Sneak Peek: Andrew Call + Amy Livingston

High school sweethearts Andrew and Amy have lived in this apartment in SE Portland with their two dogs, Leland and Burgundy, for the past three years. This peek came to us via Andrew’s twin sister, Lucy Call, a photographer in Portland who wanted to document her brother and sister-in-law’s apartment, where everything seems to have a story. They find things they like and just make them work together — like their nightstands, made from pieces of salvaged wood and dictionaries, which sit next to a giant piece of driftwood found on the Oregon coast. Andrew is a writer, working on his first novel, and Amy is working on a graduate degree in Montessori education. Andrew is an avid reader with hundreds of books, and he works them into the design of the apartment so that they don’t feel overwhelming. Amy spent several months in Ghana working with deaf children, and she developed a real love for Ghanaian artwork and objects. The resulting layered, eclectic look just seems to work. Thanks, Amy and Andrew! And a big thank you to Lucy Call for the lovely photographs! — Amy Azzarito

Image above: The Portland sign was from two friends who hitchhiked from Arizona to Portland. It folds out and says, “What if we were your kids?” The driftwood was from the Oregon coast. Painting from Africa. Side table is leftover wood from a friend who worked at Goby Walnut Products, Inc., and the encyclopedias were found on the road.

Image above: The painting is by our good friend Morgan Richard Murphey, and it was a wedding present. The photo of the train was taken by Andrew Call at the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The chess set is from Ghana, Africa. We went to the wood district in Accra (the capital of Ghana), where we found the chess set with a different board and talked the artist into selling us just the pieces. The coffee table that the chess set sits on was from a consignment shop in North Portland; it has the name of an army sergeant on the side.

See more of Andrew and Amy’s Portland apartment after the jump . . .Image above: Leland is sitting in a gold chair in the living room. That was Andrew’s great grandfather’s reading chair that somehow made it into his childhood home in Utah. His mom hated it and had been trying to get rid of it for decades, so Andrew decided to put it in his car and move it from Utah to Oregon.

Image above: We found the Hundertwasser print at a thrift shop in Utah; it was only a few bucks, and we could never afford an original, so we couldn’t leave without it. The license plate is from Ghana. I have a problem with buying too many books — I assume if I don’t buy a book by an author I am curious about, I will forget about it and never have a chance to read his or her work. Most of the books are fiction, from Leo Tolstoy to John Fante to Richard Price, but we also have many non-fiction books by authors like Naomi Klein, Christopher Hitchens, and Jeff Sharlet. The books I’m most proud of owning are the Hubert Selby, Jr. novels on the shelf in the bedroom; they are all first editions.

Image above: The living room — Amy found the crates next to a dumpster outside of a hospital.

Image above: The hat hanger next to the shelf came about from the previous tenant; she left the chain hanging from the ceiling. Amy wanted to hang a plant from it, but I’m not a huge fan of hanging plants, so she suggested we hang our hats on it. I love the way it turned out. A few of the hats were our parents, others were given to us from friends, and the green one was the first thing we bought when we moved to Portland.

Image above: The kitchen with a pot rack made from a bicycle rim that we found on the side of the road.

Image above: We went vegetarian three years ago, and after a couple years, we figured it was time to go vegan. The hardest part of going vegan was learning how to cook without any animal products, but we thought if we cooked a new meal a least once a week, we would get the hang of it. After a few months, we were amazed at how easy and delicious vegan food is. The kitchen floor is weird colored linoleum. We use the fridge as our bar. It was a bit pricey, but it looks amazing and was well worth it. It’s a 1950s ice box from Vintage Pink here in Portland.

Image above: We have a tiny garden outside on our patio. Neither of us had gardened before, so it was amazing to go through the process of planting, maintaining, harvesting and eating. The planter box has four spots, so we dedicated one to herbs and the other three to whatever vegetables are in season. We are both vegan, and we try to cook as many meals as we can.

I love this apartment, looks like something I would find in Austin. All the details and eclectic furnishings are things I would totally want in my house. The quotes are so great as well. Thanks for sharing!

When I graduated from college I lived with a couple who were just like this–they could take anything that would normally be considered junky and by just repurposing, curating and having this special way with things, they created this apartment that felt like a cabinet of wonders to live in. We all had very little money, but the apartment they created made me as if I was a terribly interesting and witty person with a droll artistic sensibility. This apartment took me right back to that charmed space. It is absolutely a gift to be able to see a pot hanger in an old bike rim. I loved seeing this space!

Those crates were a lucky find… I have a couple that I’ve found for free and some that I’ve spent up to $40 on, trying to find just the right thing for a certain project. The ice chest was totally worth it. LOVE VINTAGE PINK!

I grew up with a chair just like the one the pug is sitting on, except it was dark brown. It was my grandfather’s and my dad inherited it, and I was crushed when my mom made us throw it out. Beautiful home!

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